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A key theme in today’s social world is that innovative, exceptional customer experiences are critical to business success.

When people think of insurance companies, they don’t tend to associate them with innovation or great experiences. Life happens. There will always be accidents, fires and other disasters. So how can an insurance company make sure their customers are getting those much needed happy experiences without changing the nature of the business?

Last week at Smarter Commerce Global Summit 2014, Sanjay Gupta, senior vice president at Allstate, shared how the company is on an ongoing mission to engage with customers in more compelling ways. He wants to change the way people interact with and think about Allstate, and to do so he recognizes the need to innovate at the speed of life.

Over the last few years, Allstate has leveraged IBM to develop various campaigns that engage with customers in a manner that is relevant and personal. In doing so, they’ve launched various programs with happy customers being at the forefront of business strategy. One of the newest is Fuelcaster, which lets drivers know the forecast of gas prices so that they are able to make informed decisions on when to buy gas. Another is Drivewise, which tracks the user’s driving data and rewards them with discounts when they’re doing well.

Taking from his personal life, he realized one of the most stressful situations he could think about was around teenagers learning to drive. From holding on to dear life that first time in the car with a teen driver, to letting them go on their own and trusting them to make good driving decisions, parents often find the teen driving experience to be overwhelming. To alleviate some of the parental worry and stress while keeping kids happy and safe, Allstate created a program called StarDriver that awards teen drivers for good driving while keeping parents informed of how their kids doing by sharing detailed data. Users can also snap pictures and file a claim through the mobile app to make it easier when incidents do occur.

Allstate’s programs are a valuable lesson for businesses in every industry; the world is fast moving and only getting smaller as we become more plugged in. To stay competitive you need to always be innovating with your customers in mind. Watch the replay of Wednesday’s general session.